This is the Winter 2018 course discussion blog for and by UCLA students enrolled in LGBTQ Studies 183: Queer Arts in LA.
This course includes a creative component. When this course was first offered during the Fall 2012 quarter, the students researched queer artists who have a significant connection to Los Angeles. Then created a collaborative website.

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Queer of Color Genealogies

This week, I attended UCLA’s Queer Studies Conference,
“Queer of Color Genealogies.”The
all-day conference was held on October 19, 2012 in Royce Hall.With panels ranging from queer youth to
studying the archives to art, the conference was well rounded and highly
attended.The program itself even
highlighted the intersectionality of queerness, with the use of an image from
Julio Salgado’s “Undocuqueer” series.

The artist, Chitra Ganesh gave a presentation on her work at
the conference.Based in Brooklyn,
NY, Ganesh’s stated early on in her presentation about the importance of
displaying modern artwork by artists of color.Art by people of color that is displayed in museums is
thousands of years old.I would
further note that art by queer artists
of color is even less likely to be displayed.The artist noted later that her work is often better
received abroad as the American viewer finds it difficult to get past the brown
body and view her ideas on time, gender, and bodies.Ganesh’s work often involves ideas of mythology and science
fiction.She enjoys using a
narrative without a clear beginning, middle and end, as myth often employs, and
science fiction allows for the intersection of discussion around myth,
colonialism, gender, and bodies, an intersection present in her work.

Below: Left, Chitra Ganesh speaking at the Queer of Color Genealogies Conference; Right, a piece she presented in her slideshow that I found fascinating.